Babysitters Jailed Over Toddler's Murder

A couple who inflicted multiple injuries on a toddler they were babysitting have been jailed for life for his murder.

Christopher Taylor, 25, and Kayley Boleyn, 19, were jailed for a minimum of 15 years and 13 years, respectively, for murder and child cruelty in the case of three-year-old Ryan Lovell-Hancox.

The pair, who had blamed each other for Ryan's injuries, were found guilty at Wolverhampton Crown Court in March.

Ryan died in hospital on Christmas Eve 2008, after suffering a brain injury. More than 70 injuries had been inflicted on the toddler.

Taylor and Boleyn had been looking after Ryan for almost a month at their home in Slim Avenue, Bilston in the West Midlands. His mother, Amy Hancox, 21, had paid the couple £20 a week to look after the child, because she had been unable to cope with him while she decorated her home.

The court heard how Miss Hancox had tried to break down the door of the couple's home to see Ryan, two days before he died, but Boleyn refused to let her in, because the child was covered in bruises.

At sentencing, Mrs Justice Macur detailed some of the injuries suffered by Ryan, including bruises to his skull, which had been inflicted by up to ten individual blows, marks on his legs and grazes on his face. He had also been slapped, punched and grabbed forcibly around the jaw. She said that couple had made the toddler's life "hell".

The court also heard how the couple had mocked Ryan when he cried for help.

West Midlands Police confirmed that Miss Hancox, who did not know about the abuse, would not face any charges.

(KMcA)